Betsy on the hard
Tucking tail for Chestertown was the right thing on several counts. Best part is it turned one adventure into two. It’s a cool little town, and I would have missed it if I hadn’t got run off the river.
Plan B
Working hard at the office.
Morning was glorious. Wild Turkeys crowing instead of roosters. Snapped a few photos of the sunrise. It was so striking to see the lotus leaves floating in the sky, buoyed by red clouds.
Red sky at morning . . .
Morning on Turner’s Creek
Woke up to Wild Turkeys gobbling in the woods, Osprey overhead, and Blue Heron everywhere. Watermen making a pass at the nets before battening down ahead of the storm. A big one.
Launching in the Dark
Didn’t get on the water til a out 10. A pickup drove up, swept his headlights over Caesura and stopped cold. A nice boat builder wanted to talk boats. Fascinating guy. Finally got him to hold a light for me when i noticed it was after 9. He’s been living on a classic old sloop while he restores it, for 12 years. It’s anchored out in the cove.
Rowed back in the creek by moonlight. Got to lay down somewhere past midnight. Slept in a bed of lotus flowers. Moon, owls, fish jumping. Rye whiskey. Really nice. Really.
fone poste
Sailing Saturday
Piankatank River
postcards from the road
Sprung
All through the hot summer, the wisteria we planted ten years ago shades the front porch in cool filtered light. You can nap on the swing in a wide tunnel of green. Every Spring it squeezes out a few more blooms, with scent sweet as honeysuckle.
Can’t wait for that first nap.
fone post
Hiking in the New Year
Some time ago, we fell into a tradition of taking a hike on New Years Day, if the weather is good. We skip the whole drunken party deal, opting for sore muscles instead of a sore head. Seems to work out better.
This year Apple Orchard Mountain got the nod, and by noon we were hiking down from the highest point on the Blue Ridge Parkway to Apple Orchard falls, one of the nicest in Virginia. You hike downhill along the stream, following cascades all the way, and about 1000 feet below you get to the main falls. It’s hard to capture scale in photos, but the main section drops over 200 feet.